Umami was added as the fifth basic taste in the 20th century. It encompasses the “savoury” category of food, providing us with a word to describe just what it is in food like bacon that we love so much.

Umami was discovered in the 1908 by Japanese scientist Kikunae Ikeda, who set out to identify the specific flavour in kombu seaweed used in Japanese cuisine. He’s observed that the taste of kombu dashi was distinct from sweet, sour, bitter and salty, and named it Umami. The term, when translated, means “pleasant savoury taste”. It comes from the Japanese words umai “delicious” and mi “taste”.

Umami’s big break through came to the western world in 1985, when scientists failed to replicate the flavour of MSG. The science of taste dictates that all flavours can be recreated through specific combinations of the basic tastes, much like all colours can be recreated through the use of three primary colours. Scientists’ inability to recreate the flavour of MSG meant that there was a missing “ingredient”, which opened the door of Ikeda’s research to be accepted, and the fifth taste was inaugurated.

As Parise mentions, umami makes dishes taste more savoury and full. It’s a long-lasting, coating sensation over the tongue. Umami can be difficult to identify because it plays a background role to most flavours and is a subtle taste. It blends with other tastes to expand and round out the flavours, sort of acting as the backbone and structure of a dish.

If you’re interested in learning how to identify and taste umami, visit the Umami Information Center website and try their tasting course.

Toss out that tongue map from grade school science. Taste isn’t just about the location of specific receptors on your tongue; in fact, it’s been shown that every taste bud can register every basic taste to some degree, though some are more receptive to specific tastes.

Taste vs Flavour

Before we continue with the science-y discussion, let’s clarify one thing: taste and flavour are not the same thing. Taste is a chemical sensation perceived by specialized receptor cells found in your taste buds. Flavour is the result of several stimuli – taste, smell, touch, heat – fusing into one identifiable trait.

Researching Taste

Our sense of taste is one of the most difficult senses to test. That’s because it is a subjective sensation. What tastes disgusting to one person may taste delicious to another. Add to that the fact that there are supertasters – people with highly sensitive taste receptors that can find complex flavours in the blandest dish – and you’ve got a sensory category that is constantly in flux.

Umami on the Tongue

Umami is a subtle taste. Many people won’t recognize it when it’s there, but will notice when it’s missing from a dish. Most taste buds on the tongue and other regions of the mouth can detect umami, regardless of location.

It is, in essence, the effect of glutamate and nucleotides on our palate. These react on a basic level in our mouth to induce salivation and create a sensation of “furriness” on the tongue. It also stimulates the throat, the roof and the back of the mouth. The effect is mild but long-lasting and very difficult to describe, which is why there are so many different definitions of umami. In fact, the umami sensation will be different depending on which amino acid is present – the Umami Information Center has a handy guide for the composition of umami.

In order for umami to be palatable, it needs to be combined with the other basic tastes; the best combination of umami is with salt – low-salt dishes taste better with umami and high-umami dishes taste better with salt.

Perhaps one of the reasons why it took so long for a fifth taste to be recognized world wide is because umami isn’t prevalent in western food. Sweet, sour, bitter, salty – these are all things we can add to our food with spices and additives, like sugar. Umami however is found in the composition of the ingredients rather than spices added to a dish. While this list doesn't cover every food that contains umami, it's a great place to start with your next umami-infused menu.